10.06.2023 World-Tour, News, Race news

ANTONIA CLIMBS TO THIRD PLACE ON HAUTACAM

Antonia Niedermaier from CANYON//SRAM Racing made an impressive showing in stage two of the CIC Tour des Pyrénées, finishing in third place. Antonia’s strong finish was a key factor in the young 20-year-old German rider storming into third in the general classification and the lead in the youth and mountain classifications. CANYON//SRAM Racing had three riders in the top ten on the queen stage, with Neve Bradbury in fifth and Pauliena Rooijakkers in eighth on the 13km-long climb to the summit of hors categorie, Hautacam.

Today’s stage two, which is considered the toughest of the race through the Pyrénées, featured steep inclines and hairpin turns that pushed riders to the limit.

The 96km stage was neutralised twice for concerns regarding rider safety with open traffic scenes in yesterday’s stage and again today. The peloton raced the final 20km to the summit finish.

Antonia said, “It was a difficult situation. As riders, we decided to neutralise it until the climb, but as the road before the climb was so narrow, it became quite fast to the bottom of it. Overall, we managed well. Alice (Towers) and (Sarah) Roy kept us in a good position, so all we needed to do was focus on the climb.”

“When we were a small number of riders leading, I went to the front. I felt comfortable there. I was dropped with just a few kilometres to go, but I kept suffering and pushing and could make it back to the two leaders with around 700m to go. When I caught them, I just kept the pace high. It’s all I could do at that moment.”

“After some bad luck this year with knee surgery in February and then crashing out of Lotto Thüringen Ladies Tour, I’m very happy with third place! It feels really good. Tomorrow, we will see what we can do. I’m really looking forward to it.”

With one stage to go, Antonia is third in the general classification at +5 seconds behind leader Marta Cavalli (FDJ). Teammates Neve and Pauliena are fifth and eighth at +1:14 and +2:16, respectively. Antonia leads the youth classification by 1:09 from Neve, and she leads the mountain classification by five points.